Saturday, November 23, 2013

According to this report in the Art Newspaper, Rosen, who bought looted Iraqi antiquities and then donated them to Cornell, was a co-owner of a gallery with Robert Hecht, who was the key middleman buying looted Italian antiquities and then sold them to the Met. Those were the days.Also notable that Rosen got an $800K tax benefit for donating. Will the IRS demand that money (plus penalties)? That would send a signal to collectors that if they want to buy dodgy antiquities they should not expect to be rewarded for doing so, at least.

"For a period there was looting everywhere and illegal excavations. So from Sunday I have agreed to travel all over the world on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism to tell people that the sites are now completely secured. Egypt is safe for everyone and we need tourists to come back."